Police are hunting for six British cleaners driving a white van who were
working near the apartment complex where missing Madeleine McCann and her
family were staying.

The workers are among the new suspects identified by Scotland Yard as ‘people of interest’ during a review of the Portuguese inquiry into the child’s disappearance in May 2007.

There are now believed to be 12 suspects, which include a number of Portuguese manual workers and British cleaners who were working near the apartments where three-year-old Madeleine, twin siblings Sean and Amelie and parents Gerry and Kate were holidaying.

Sources said that “low-level” workers such as handymen, cleaners and gardeners, some of whom are thought to have been employed by the Ocean Club complex on a casual basis and who may have already been interviewed, have become the focus of interest.

The police are keen to trace six British cleaners who were working in Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished, and who didn't appear in the Portuguese files.

The cleaners are believed to have used a white van, and went from apartment to apartment offering their services mainly to expats.

“There is quite a culture of people drifting from door to door offering services from everything from your garden to your roof or windows,” a source told the Mail on Sunday.

There are also a number of ‘more obvious’ suspects who already appear in the Portuguese files but who British police feel haven’t been ‘bottomed out’ properly and therefore warrant further investigation.

“There are a lot of people who could be explored further, if only to be eliminated,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, head of Scotland Yard’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command.

But officers face having to tackle Portuguese resistance to re-opening the inquiry, after officials in Lisbon said they can reopen the case only if there is new evidence – although it has been claimed that the new leads could, if properly explored, result in new evidence and possibly solve the Madeleine mystery.

Detectives examining the Portuguese files were alarmed that the original inquiry had not traced and interviewed all the staff and holidaymakers who were at the Ocean Club when the three-year-old went missing.

Last year the Met said that it had identified 195 fresh leads that should have been investigated either by conducting further witness interviews, eliminating suspects or carrying out forensic tests that were missing from the 2007 inquiry.

Officers found unexplained gaps in the investigation timeline, with a complete lack of forensic examination of mobile phone activity in the area on the night Madeleine disappeared.

Mr Campbell said it was “perfectly probable” that information which could identify the suspect responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance was already in the Portuguese files, and reiterated a claim that she could still be alive.

“You only have to look at the case in Cleveland, Ohio, and the European cases,” he said. “Of course there is a possibility she is alive. But the key is to investigate the case and, alive or dead, we should be able to try and discern what happened.’”

A spokesman for the McCanns said: “They have been encouraged from the moment the review started and are now greatly encouraged that police have drawn up a short list of people who they believe are of interest to the inquiry.”